A Matter Of When
by CrimeStopper136
Summary: It was never a matter of if Henry and Elizabeth would meet, but a matter of when. In this instance it's now rather than at UVA, but there's no denying fate. - back from hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Authors note- this is my first MSec FanFiction so be kind, AU, Bess and Henry meet later in life and love ensues. for a while I didn't like fics where they didn't know each other because they are perfect and the thought of them not having all that time made me sad, but what the hell. After reading this you can read some fluff to cheer yourself up, I know I will.

The first chapter isn't that long but it's more of an intro to what the story is with a bit of explanation. The next one will be henry and a bit longer. enjoy.

disclaimer: I don't own Madam Secretary, only my own characters, if I did, I would find out what is going to happen in season 3 immediately

* * *

Elizabeth willed her eyes to stay open for just a little while longer, she had been reading a report on "China's GDP growth summary" and it was, in fact, more boring than it sounds, if that's possible. At that moment, Blake came in to ask if it she needed anything. Elizabeth jumped, looking at the clock seeing the glowing numbers read 12:47.

"Blake, it's late, I thought you'd gone home hours ago, what are you still doing here?"

"you're here, I'm here ma'am"

"well, while I appreciate the sentiment, I can barely stay awake, so I'm going home, I should have enough time to kiss my kids and get 4 hours of sleep. Ah the life of a public servant." She sighed with a resigned smile.

"I could probably push your meeting with the Armenian ambassador to half 8"

"thanks Blake, I'd appreciate it, then I could at least see my kids while they're awake before they go to their dads for the weekend." Elizabeth packed up her folders, putting the necessary reading in her briefcase while Blake got her coat out of the closet and helped her put it on.

"goodnight Blake, go home, and thanks for everything today." She patted his shoulder as she walked past and down the hallway to the bed that was calling her name.

"no problem Madam Secretary."

...

Elizabeth had gotten married right out of college to a guy from her economics class, it had been great in the beginning, typical young love, then she moved with him to New York, and it was fine… not great, but fine, she missed her horses and her family home in Virginia but she wanted to make the marriage work and prove wrong the naysayers. So it was off to New York where John had been offered a place at a very prestigious law school. Elizabeth had never really been interested in business law, sure she'd taken Law classes at UVA and found it interesting to learn about criminal and social law but that wasn't nearly as dry as mergers and stocks. So when the CIA approached her she was all too happy to move back to Virginia, telling herself that seeing John on weekends was bearable and that lots of people make the long distance thing work. It had caused many arguments, but she was committed to making a difference in the world and felt that this was her chance.

It was right after she got to Langley that she found out she was pregnant with Stevie. John moved to Virginia to be with his wife and child, and a few years later there was Allison. It was right after Allison was born that John began seeming distant. And a month later, and bit of spycraft from Elizabeth, she found out about the affair, with the paediatrician of all people. Needless to say, she filed for divorce a week later, after many arguments where John refused to take responsibility for what he had done.

So he moved back to New York and became very successful at his job, and very _un_ successful at being a father becoming less and less helpful or involved, all the while managing to seem like the good guy. But the Girls got by with a committed mother and her multitude of work friends who pitched in.

...

It was 1:15 by the time she got to her Georgetown house, it was a true family home, or at least that's what she called it to avoid calling it a bomb site. Clothes and shoes and books and electronics everywhere. And there seemed to always be some dishes lying around, even though everyone tried to pull their weight and clean every so often. It had been better lately, since Stevie was back from college for the summer and had no summer job so was spending her time keeping the house in check. Elizabeth had considered getting a maid, now that there was a little more disposable income, but neither her nor Allison wanted a stranger going through their things, plus with her job, they would have to be thoroughly vetted and have to be searched regularly, and it just seemed like a scandal waiting to happen, all Elizabeth had to do was leave the wrong file out on her desk and they could have another Edward Snowden situation on their hands. No, it was better to just live with a little bit of mess.

Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and sighed in satisfaction, whoever invented heels could go screw themselves. She saw a pizza box on the kitchen side and went to go grab a slice to take upstairs. Blake had thought to get her dinner, but that was 6 hours ago and her stomach was reminding her of that fact.

Cracking open the door to her eldest daughter's room, she tiptoed over and gave her a kiss, frankly, she was surprised Stevie was asleep so early, she had turned slightly nocturnal at college, but she seemed to be returning to normality finally. Elizabeth then went to Allison's room, opening the door to find her little bookworm asleep hunched over her desk with the light on and her history books open in front of her. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, padding over to the sleeping form and gently rubbing her shoulder. Allison blinked awake

"Hi mom, what time is it?"

"it's late, how long have you been studying?"

"I don't know, I had a break for some dinner, Stevie ordered pizza" she mumbled as her mother helped tuck her into bed

"I saw. Sweet dreams my beautiful girl, love you"

"love you too mom."

And with that she dozed off, Elizabeth watched her for a moment before turning to shut off the desk light and moving into her own bedroom and heading off to sleep herself, but not before making the alarm was set for the morning.

* * *

so yeah, let me know what you think, but read chapter 2 before you make up your mind ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: this chapter is a bit longer and focuses more on Henry enjoy

* * *

A young man in uniform ran down the corridor of the war college in Washington DC and burst into the lecture hall, all eyes turned to the tardy student.

"Glad you could finally join us lieutenant"

"Sorry Professor McCord, I was caught up talking to a professor, it won't happen again" the young man found a seat and tried to catch his breath, with the hope that everyone would stop staring at him.

"Okay, moving on. Today we are looking at Thomas Aquinas' theory of a Just war…"

…

A short 1 hour 40 minutes later and henry's students were filing out of the lecture hall when his phone buzzed in his pocket, with a text that said "Sadiq's gone dark". Henry's heart dropped, his asset, within a falling regime, although a highly capable 35-year-old was nonetheless in an immense amount of danger. He immediately called Jane to find out what he could do and heard the most infuriating answer he could hear "we just have to wait"

"can't we at least set up some sort of extraction plan that we can put in place if this thing gets worse or we hear from Sadiq and need to get him out of there?" Henry was getting more and more frustrated.

"unfortunately we need to have a better picture of what is happening before we can put an extraction plan in place, there are too many unknowns right now."

After Henry hung up he decided to go home, his classes were finished and he needed to get away from the government structure that was frustrating him at the minute, to just take his mind off of everything that was happening and there was only one person who could do that.

Henry walked into the front door of his house, looking for the person who could always pull his attention, he walked around the corner to see Jason doing homework at the dining room table, immediately smiling and walking over to ruffle his sons hair. Jason had been listening to his music and jumped violently

"DAD! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry" henry laughed "I didn't mean to"

Jason tried to keep a straight face, but eventually cracked and laughed, turning back to his homework.

"what'cha doin there champ?"

"physics" Jason replied with a huff "it's too hard, why do I need to know the velocity of a made up thing?"

"Well, just think, if you want a career like I had, you have to understand the effect of wind changes and weight and all kinds of stuff to properly fly a fighter jet, you might not realise that's what's causing the shifts in what you're doing, but that doesn't mean it's not true" he reasoned while he made a start on dinner.

"fair, but I don't want to fly a fighter jet" Jason retorted

"and that's what lets me sleep at night."

...

After a quiet evening of dinner and homework for both of them, Jason doing it and Henry grading it, henry declared an early night for both of them and trudged upstairs with another pile of unmarked assignments to work on in bed. After kissing Jason on the head, which he was still okay with, Henry slid into bed and checked his phone for an update on Sadiq, nothing, but he texted Jane anyway to check and to make sure that he would be notified as soon as there was _any_ news.

Henry decided that he couldn't bear to look at another essay tonight and that he'd just have to do double duty tomorrow. And with that he turned over to turn the light off and saw the picture of Jason at his 2nd birthday party, with Sarah in the background holding the cake with his two candles on it. It often caught him off guard, the guilt he felt about Jason having grown up, pretty much without a mother. While the rational part of his brain told him that he shouldn't feel guilty, that she had walked out on her own when she discovered that domestic life wasn't what she was hoping for, that he had done the very best he could, and Jason, by all accounts had flourished and was a great kid. This, the same rational part of his brain that told him he shouldn't feel guilty about Sadiq, that the guy was so gung hoe about serving his country, we would have gotten a handler anyway, probably one who wouldn't care as much as Henry did.

This very same rational part, however, seemed to be asleep whenever he thought about these topics, either that or it just didn't want to talk to his heart, or his gut, based on the queezy feeling he seemed to get.

Henry willed himself to turn off the light and get some sleep, telling himself that he would be no good to any of his responsibilities, whether they be father, professor, agent or handler, if he was too tired to think.

Henry woke up with a start when his phone started ringing. Fumbling around for his glasses and looking over at the clock to see what time it was 3:50.

Crap.

No good news ever came at 3:50.

Answering his phone with a croaky "hello" typical of sleep he listened intently as he was briefed on the situation in Lebanon and that Sadiq had made contact. He was fine for the moment, and still on the inside, but it henry knew it wouldn't be long until he was discovered. Henry was busy thinking about all the possible ramifications when jane said

"we're needed at the white house to brief the president"

That got his attention "What?"

"DIA is needed to brief the president and others on the situation and since youre Sadiq's handler, you and I are going"

"O-Okay"

"great, ASAP" and with that she hung up, leaving Henry to process the news that he was about to not only meet, but inform the leader of the free world on a matter of international importance.

Henry jumped out of bed and frantically rifled through his wardrobe to find a clean suit and shirt and thanked god that he had had the foresight to have a quick shower before getting into bed.

10 minutes later their neighbour Barbara was knocking at the door, a woman in her late sixties with a kind face in her floral dressing gown and matching slippers, rollers in hair, yawning.

"Oh my god thank you Barb. I really appreciate this. Look, I have to go but you know the drill, and please help yourself to anything you want, I would have set up the sofa but I didn't have time, but feel free to sleep in my bed, I should be home later but if this thing runs long would you be free to come over tonight?"

"um sure, no problem" Barbara looked at the frantic man before her with tired bewilderment. "I'm assuming this is to do with your 'other' job, the one you can't tell me about."

"you assume correctly, but suffice it to say that I'm about to head to a very big, very white house and I'm bricking it." Barbara's jaw dropped, but before she could say anything Henry had kissed her on the cheek and was running down the front steps of his house and towards his car, calling a last thank you over his shoulder.

...

After meeting Jane at security and having the once over by the security guys and the metal detector, they were led down a series of hallways, and stairs, and then passageways to a door with a pad next to it that looked like something from the movies, with secret service by the door and what was revealed to be a hand scanner, he was then lead into a room filled with generals and colonels and various men with suits.

They were directed to sit by the wall in the far corner, by the screen. Henry assumed the president would sit at the other end of the table, underneath the presidential seal and the other two empty seats were anybody's guess, no doubt more important people.

After a minute or two the president entered with his chief of staff, something in Henry's head wanted to say his name was Russel Thompson… no no no, Hansen?... _Jackson_. That's it. The room stood, and the president motioned for everyone to take their seats. Henry was feet away from the leader of the free world and was actually _very_ excited.

Yet the meeting didn't start, Henry was looking around and wondering who was going to fill the seat to the left of the president.

"We'll just wait for Bess, I think she should hear this from the beginning" the room seemed to nod affirmative, but henry was trying to rack his brain to figure out who he meant by "Bess", he didn't really keep up with Washington, even though he lived there, he knew the joint chiefs and the white house chief of staff, but other than that…

And then he saw her as she walked in, Elizabeth Adams. A wave of familiarity washed over him. He obviously knew who the secretary of state was, but this was something else, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, how he felt like he knew her. He'd seen her on TV when she'd been announced and she'd been in the news since, but it was different. And he obviously knew she was beautiful but even at 4 o'clock in the morning in crappy lighting, she was even prettier that she was on TV and in photos, and in those she was stunning.

* * *

I didn't mean to write so much more for henry than Elizabeth but thought it best to get to how they will meet and wanted to be able to get them to the same point in the next chapter. anyway. R&R and I'll be back soon


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth awoke to the buzzing of her phone on her bedside table, groaning, she rolled over to grab it, removing the hair from her face with the other hand. Half opening her eyes so the brightness of the screen didn't blind her. Seeing the time displayed at the top of the screen made her give a whimper, 3 hours was not enough sleep, maybe for a donkey, but not for a secretary of state who would be expected to help make important decisions. The text itself didn't help to lighten her mood either

"Lebanon. White House. Situation room. Now." Ah that Russell, what a way with words he had. Not that she could really blame him at this time in the morning, if you could call it that.

"on my way" Elizabeth had learned the hard way that if you don't reply this early in the morning you'd get a phone call because Russell would assume you slept through the text.

Heaving herself out of bed, Elizabeth stood up and trudged to the bathroom for what was sure to be a never ending day.

She was soon ready, only taking about 15 minutes to look fairly presentable. Although on a normal morning she would like to spend a bit longer and put in a bit more effort, this would have to do. She snuck out of her room with shoes in hand as not to wake up Allison, she crept in and gave her youngest a kiss and then went to Stevie's room to let her know she was going into work and that Stevie would be in charge of the morning and to make sure Allison was ready to go to their dads after school.

...

Elizabeth liked Washington at this time, so calm and quiet, very few people trying to stab each other in the back politically or being bogged down in bureaucracy. It was so peaceful, and yet, for her to be up and out at this time meant that somewhere else in the world was definitely not peaceful. She decided to put the travel time to use and googled Lebanon, while she knew quite a bit about the country from her days at the company, she figured it couldn't hurt to refresh her memory.

By the time they arrived at the white house, Elizabeth had reacquainted herself with the politics and history of Lebanon, not that it took long after keeping an eye on the region for 2 years in her early days at the CIA.

She hurried down the corridors of the white house and into the situation room, "sorry everyone, I came as soon as I could" she sat down focusing on the president. "Lebanon. What's the problem?"

The president nodded towards some people in the far corner, who took that as their cue to brief. Putting her glasses on, Elizabeth for the first time, took notice of the new faces and as soon as she saw the handsome man with the glasses, she had a strange feeling shoot down her spine. There was something about him, and she'd never experienced anything like it. When he began to speak, she could have sworn she knew him from somewhere, but Elizabeth was very good with people and yet she couldn't place him.

It wasn't until Conrad asked her a question that she was snapped out of her reverie "huh? What?"

"I asked if there was any insight you could give us into Lebanon and the scale of upset these riots could cause on a global scale"

"right, well" Elizabeth cleared her throat "Lebanon is considered to be one of the most democratic nations in the Arab world, that being said, they haven't had a president since 2014 and the sitting parliament has extended its term twice already which is completely unprecedented. There were riots in the last few years already. On a national scale, I'd say the people are fed up and pose a serious threat to the stability of Lebanon, however, on a more global scale this is a serious development. At the moment and for the past decade or so, we have held Lebanon up as a show of an Arab nation with a working democratic system of government, arguably even more inclusive than our own. If that should fall, what hope do the countries around it have? Not to mention their strained relationship with the bordering Syria, which poses a real threat to the ongoing war on terror"

She looked around the room and was all eyes on her, but the ones that caught her attention were the ones of the DIA agent helping brief. His face held a look unlike the others in the room, most of them just seemed to be processing the information, the other DIA agent and a few of the other new faces seemed impressed, but this one, it was like he was mesmerised, staring into her soul, if she didn't know any better she'd say this complete stranger was looking at her in adoration. But that was crazy, he didn't even know her, did he?

"thanks Bess. Dr McCord, you have an asset on the ground yes?" the president continued.

"uh, yes, sir" his focus was pulled from her. "Sadiq Haddad, he's been monitoring the civil unrest for a little over 4 months now, all was relatively calm until this last wave of riots, there have been reported attacks on sitting members of the government, calls against autocracy, all culminating yesterday when Sadiq went dark. No contact since"

So, his name was McCord and he had a PhD, it was unlikely he was a medical doctor. Once they started talking about asset recovery the military people stepped in and Dr McCord seemed to become very invested, something about his demeanour seemed to indicate that this was more than just business and he wasn't a typical handler.

It was 7.15 by the time there was a recovery operation in place and Elizabeth was set to meet with the Lebanese ambassador and to make sure that the US ambassador in Lebanon was safe. It was then that Conrad called the meeting to a close, which was good because Elizabeth was about to lose consciousness.

...

Elizabeth left the room with the president and Russell and walked with them back up to the west wing before heading to the exit to catch 40 winks in her office before her next meeting. It was at the exit that she bumped into Dr McCord.

"Hi, I didn't get to properly introduce myself. Henry McCord" he said as he held out his hand to shake.

"right, Elizabeth Adams, nice to meet you" as their hands touched, she could have sworn that there was a physical reaction that happened. Her whole body felt tingly all of a sudden and she lost her ability to form words. She just stood there with her mouth open, willing her brain to work.

Little did she know that the same thing had happened with Henry, who was rapidly trying to think of something to say, finally coming up with

"Well, I don't know about you but I could fall asleep standing up, um, do you want to grab a coffee?" he stumbled with his words slightly, which made Elizabeth feel a lot better about her own idiocy.

"after these past few days, I need coffee in an IV" she replied. Henry laughed and Elizabeth could have sworn it was the most beautiful sound she'd ever heard. As they walked out of the white house, Elizabeth's detail following closely, she had the strangest feeling in her stomach, she couldn't be sure, but they felt almost like… butterflies.

* * *

Authors note: the thing about the donkey is true, I looked it up and they only sleep around 3 hours a day. Also, while I tries to get the base facts about Lebanon right, I made up the storyline and I apologise if anyone takes offense, it was just a story intended to get them in the same room and I wanted to make it credible. I will get back to the more personal stuff soon, promise. Also, it might seem quite forward of Henry to ask her out for coffee straight after they've met, but he's such a friendly guy and I'm going with the fact that he felt a connection and just went with it. I'm also going to change the format somewhat and write from both perspectives when they're together rather than one chapter Elizabeth the other Henry etc.


	4. Chapter 4

"so where do you want to go?" henry asked, "I figure, you know this side of town better than I do"

They were just exiting the White House gates, "um, well there's a nice place just around the block, I go there quite a bit so my detail knows the layout. I've decided not to spring too many new places on them, they hide it well, but whenever I mention a place they haven't checked out before, I swear I can see Matt's vein on his forehead bulge a little." Elizabeth smiled motioning to one of the guards walking behind them who henry assumed was Matt. He had never seen a more beautiful smile and couldn't help but smile back, plus, she was funny, who knew? He'd only seen her on the news talking about serious topics.

"ooh!" she exclaimed, grabbing henry's arm, catching his attention. "Otis' Beanery isn't far from my office, have you ever had one of their Black Eyes?"

"um, no. are they good?" it wasn't until then that Elizabeth realised she still had her hand on Henrys arm and pulled away, looking down at her shoes before returning her eyes to him and replying,

"oh yeah they're the best, if that doesn't wake you up nothing will"

"Otis' Beanery it is then"

It was too far to walk so she hopped in her motorcade and Henry went to get his car, not wanting to have to come back and get it later, he followed the 3 SUVs across town near the State department building and parked outside the café.

...

He hopped out of his car and jogged over to the secretary's SUV, opening the door for her. "well, aren't you a gentleman." She commented.

He was already completely different to the type of men she usually attracted. In college it was the brainy but extremely confident guys, usually trust fund kids, later it had been the CIA's version of jocks who thought they could impress her with their cool gadgets or dangerous mission experience. And in recent years it was the social climbers, foreign diplomats or politicians who wanted a leg up, all looking for social or professional advancement. While it was still a possibility that henry would turn out to be one of these guys, something about him just made her think he wasn't like that, that he was being polite simply because that's who he was.

Henry smiled at the comment and opened the door to the coffee shop to let her walk in. they ordered their coffee, which Henry paid for against Elizabeth's protests, and found a table at the back of the room.

"I have the strangest feeling like I know you from somewhere, but I can't place it, which is strange for me because in the last few years I've gotten a lot better with names and faces" Elizabeth decided to just say it, rather than sit and stew on it for the next week, trying to figure it out.

Henry was caught by surprise "I had the exact same feeling, but what's odd is that I didn't have that feeling when I saw you on the news or in papers, but as soon as you walked in the room I felt like I should know you"

"were you ever at the CIA?" it was well documented that she had worked there under Conrad so there was no harm in asking

"no, I'm a college professor day to day, and I was in the marines before that, no clandestine activities over here." He leaned in closer "well, none that I can talk about" he said with a wink, making Elizabeth laugh.

"well if not from the CIA, then from where? I was a professor for a number of years as well, where do you teach?"

"currently I teach at the War College, but until a few years ago I was at the University of Virginia"

Elizabeth nearly spit her coffee across the table, "no way! I was at UVA too, what did you teach?"

"my wheelhouse is religion and ethics" from all of the stuff Henry had read about the secretary of state, he couldn't for the life of him remember learning that they taught at the same university at the same time. Although her reaction was completely adorable.

It was at that moment that Elizabeth phone started to ring, she looked at him apologetically before taking her phone out of her pocket. "I'm sorry it's my daughter"

"oh sure, no problem" he motioned for her to take the call, not that she wouldn't have anyway.

"Ally baby, what's up?"

Henry could hear a muffled voice on the other end of the line, and found it adorable that she called her daughter baby.

"what are you talking about, Stevie's not going? Put your sister on the phone." She glanced over at Henry and gave a little smile.

"Stevie, you most certainly are going."

…

"I don't care if you don't want to see him, you've only seen him 4 times this past year while you were at school… I realise that, but Allison has to see him because she's under 18, and that's the custody arrangement. She doesn't want to go either but she has to, and now that you're home you have to keep her company… you think I like this arrangement? I barely got to see you guys this week and now you're away this weekend? Honey I know this sucks but just think how Allison feels, she has to do this on school holidays as well, for a whole week… please just do this for your sister… thank you sweetie… love you too"

She hung up the phone and took a deep breath before turning back to the table and looking at Henry, he just smiled and waited patiently in case she wanted to talk about it or change the subject.

"sorry about that, my eldest prefers to avoid her father whenever possible. I don't blame her but it's not really fair on her sister who has to see him by law" she let out a big sigh and shook her head as if she were shaking away the thought of her ex-husband "where were we?"

"if you don't mind me asking, where does he live?"

"New York, why?"

"no, it's nothing I was just wondering if it's a very long trip"

"they usually take the train, it takes just under 3 hours, not too bad. Although since Stevie's been at Lovell she managed to get out of seeing him most of the time because of college work, although she somehow managed to come home most weekends to keep _me_ company. I mean, if I were her, I'd do the same, her father is a grade A tool and the older you get, the more you see it." "sorry, I've just realised I started ranting about my ex-husband. You don't want to hear about that"

"no no, it's interesting" henry started, gaining a questionable look from Elizabeth who was idly spinning her coffee cup in her hands. "I mean, you're interesting" he said suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Elizabeth blushed "well so what about you? Kids?"

Henry's face lit up then and she couldn't help but notice. "yeah, a son, Jason. He's fourteen, he's such a great kid, his mom left just after his second birthday so it's just been me and him ever since but it hasn't really affected him, I mean, I'm sure it had an impact on some level, but he turned out very respectful, with a good sense of self, and what more can a parent ask for really?"

Henry turned his attention back to the beautiful woman in front of him and noticed that she was grinning. "what? Do I have something on my face?" he asked as he started to wipe his lips self-consciously.

"no, you just seem so proud, it's really quite refreshing"

"refreshing?"

"Yeah, well, my ex seems to view fatherhood as more of a chore than a blessing. It's just so nice to see such an engaged father." This comment made him smile, there was nothing he loved more than being a father.

"Oh shoot!" Elizabeth suddenly saw the time "I'm late for a meeting with the Armenian ambassador"

Henry stood to help her with her coat. He saw this as his shot and asked "this may be too forward of me, but would you like to grab lunch sometime? Or dinner maybe?"

Elizabeth smiled to herself before turning around with a nonchalant look on her face. "um, sure" she took a card out of her pocket and wrote her cell number on the back, handing it to him. She smiled and said "let me know when and I'll check my schedule"

And with that, she hurried off out of the coffee shop and into her motorcade. Sitting in the back seat she put her head back and let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't remove the smile that was on her lips, even walking through her office and being informed of her lateness wouldn't do it, as she walked into the conference room for her meeting Blake and Nadine shared a confused look about their boss' cheery demeanour, especially since no one had gotten any sleep, and Blake knew for a fact that she must be tired because he sure was.

Henry slumped back into his chair and ran his hand over his face, he felt like he was a kid again, asking for a girls phone number. Sure he had been on dates since Sarah had left but he never felt like this before, not even before Sarah. Something about the whole conversation seemed easy and right, like he couldn't wait to find out everything about her and yet at the same time he felt he had known her forever.

He decided he didn't want to wait and play it cool, she was too astonishing, so he typed out her phone number and texted

"Hi it's Henry, is tomorrow too soon?"

* * *

Authors note: so there's a bit more personal stuff, this is more of the fic I wanted to write. Hope you like it so far and stick with me. Next up, offspring interactions and a first date. Ooohhh

I appreciate reviews, and grammatical and spelling errors pointed out will be amended, I've been posting these as soon as they are done so sorry about that :)


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi it's Henry, is tomorrow too soon?"

Feeling excited, henry sat back in his chair and waited, and waited, and waited. His sense of throwing caution to the wind fading into regret. 'You should have played it cool Henry. You came on too strong. What were you thinking, she'd been gone 10 minutes' it was then as he was beating himself up for being too eager that his phone buzzed

"sorry, I couldn't reply, I was in a meeting. Tomorrow sounds great? When?"

Henry breathed a sigh of relief, of course she couldn't reply, she'd told him she was late for a meeting, what did he expect her to do tell the Armenian ambassador to hold on a second while she replied to the guy she met that morning? Then he had to think, when? Lunch? Dinner? Was dinner too datey? But wasn't it a date? No, lunch was better, more relaxed, less pressure for a kiss at the end. Henry was caught off guard at the way he got goosebumps when he thought about kissing her, what it would be like, what it would mean. He was snapped back to reality when the waitress came to clear the table, Henry smiled politely at her and she smiled back. Nope, not the same, he felt nothing, unlike when Elizabeth smiled.

Elizabeth was also on cloud nine, walking out of a very tense meeting and finding that text from henry made her smile, then she saw that she got it 40 minutes ago and was delighted when she worked out that he had sent it almost as soon as she had left him, but then realised that she hadn't replied for 40 minutes and suddenly feared that she looked like a snob, so replied instantly. It wasn't until after she hit send that she remembered the girls. It had been so long since she went on a proper date, and she usually talked to them about it first.

"lunch? I can pick you up at 1?" he had replied and all uncertainty vanished, she typed back

"lunch sounds great, but you can't pick me up, the motorcade is the only way I'm allowed to travel… do you want to come by my house and we can go from there? Or we can pick you up, or we can meet there…." She realised she was rambling, so rethought it and just went with "lunch sounds great, but pickups are 'against protocol' we could swing by yours?" and hit send before she could change her mind.

The old fashioned romantic in him wanted to be the one doing the taking, but henry was also a modern guy, so to hell with proper dating etiquette "whatever you'd prefer" was what he went with, letting her call the shots.

It was then that Elizabeth decided she needed to consult the girls, she called Blake in to make sure she could get home for when Allison would be getting home from school, they had a little time before they were due to get the train to New York. Henry had had a similar thought but unlike Elizabeth, he had the whole evening and next morning with Jason to talk about it so was much more relaxed about the whole thing, he wasn't relaxed however about the lunch date itself. And that unrest was magnified when he realised that he needed to catch up on all the marking he put off last night in favour of sleep, which in hindsight may have been a good idea or he would have definitely fallen asleep toward the end of the briefing in the white house. Thankfully, the coffee had done the trick so he headed off to the War College to shape the minds of tomorrows military leaders.

…

Elizabeth walked into her townhouse to find it spotless, standing with her mouth hanging open she dropped her briefcase. She suddenly heard a voice coming from the kitchen "pick that up, I cleaned!". Elizabeth smiled to herself and hung her coat up, moving her briefcase to the table in the hallway ready to be picked back up on her way out in a little while. She walked into the kitchen to see Stevie sealing various Tupperware containers "some meals for the next 3 days" she said with a smile.

"aww sweetie, you didn't have to do that, I managed to fend for myself for quite a while before you could cook."

"no mom, you'd order take out" Stevie retorted

"that counts doesn't it? I didn't starve"

"it's a wonder you weren't 300 pounds"

Elizabeth just laughed and gave her daughter a hug, "thanks you sweetie. Where's Ally?"

"upstairs finishing packing. What are you doing home?"

"I need to talk to you guys"

"what did dad do? He cancelled didn't he. That is just so typical, not that I wanted to go, but he's supposed to want to see his own children…" Stevie started rambling. Elizabeth put her hands on Stevie's shoulders and turned her to face her, stopping her from talking.

"no, your dad did not cancel. Its good news, possibly" she couldn't stop the smile from reaching her face.

Stevie gasped "You met someone!"

"What?!" Elizabeth asked, feigning innocence.

"you know for a spy, you're a terrible liar. ALLY GET DOWN HERE"

Alison trudged down stairs weekend bag in hand. "what?" she couldn't keep the unhappiness from her voice, or face, over going to her dads.

Elizabeth jumped in before Stevie could blurt anything out "I wanted to consult you guys on how you would feel if I went out on a date…"

"Eeeh! I knew it!" Stevie jumped in the air and hugged her mom.

"Ooh who is he? Is he cute? Ew, is he old? Is he a politician? coz, I'd prefer it if he were old." Allison never failed to entertain.

"his name is Henry, and he's very cute. But I wanted to know how you feel before anything happened. Are you guys sure you're okay with it?"

"Okay with it? Are you serious? I put you on tinder!"

"You what?!" Stevie and Elizabeth couldn't believe Ally could be so stupid

"relax, just kidding, but I did consider it. And I have been trying to set you up with various teachers since I was like 8"

"Don't remind me. Mr Reece, really?" Elizabeth loved bringing up Mr Reece

"okay, can we all let that go please? I was 11, my gaydar was non-existent." And with that they all burst into laughter.

The girls finished getting ready and Elizabeth offered them a ride to the train station and all the way there they were trying to gather information on the mystery suiter. Elizabeth wasn't budging, until right before they got out when she gave in and told them his name, that kept them giggling all the way to the train platform.

It was only 20 minutes later that Elizabeth was back at her desk at the state department and a Facebook message came through from Allison with a picture of henry and a message saying "HE'S HOT" followed by another saying "I Love Google" proving once again that even a little bit of information in the hands of a teenager was dangerous.

The rest of the day went by quite quickly, with no new international crises, and was sped up more by the fact that Elizabeth's mind kept wandering to Henry and how right it felt to just be around him. Before she realised it was 6, so she sent her staff home being as it was a Friday and she really couldn't stay awake much longer. She wished them a good weekend and headed home for a microwaved home cooked dinner, a hot bath and what would hopefully be at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

…

Henry got home and dropped the bouquet of flower over at Barb's house as a thank you and went inside to Jason and was predictably made to dodge questions about his whereabouts that morning with half-truths, which he hated to do. The DIA had graciously allowed him to tell Jason about the fact that he was working for the government in more than his capacity as a professor, which gave Henry leeway to inform Jason that it was to do with his other work and the building he was in that morning.

"The White House?! Did you see the situation room? Were you in the oval office? Did you meet the president?"

"Jas, you know I can't talk about it." Jason sighed "What I can tell you is that I met someone today, a woman, who is very nice, and I just wanted to give you a heads up and tell you that we are going out for lunch tomorrow while you're out with the dudes and at football practice. Are you okay with that?"

"uh, sure, whatever. It's not like you've never dated before, but can you try and make sure this one's not crazy?"

"she's not, and neither was Karen, she was just a little eccentric" okay, so Karen was pretty crazy, but he'd never admit that to Jason.

The next morning, Jason went into his dads room to find him holding up two shirts in front of the mirror, trying to decide on one. "where are you going for lunch?"

"I have no idea, it's her pick, but she's an important woman so she's probably eaten everywhere in DC at some point"

"really? Who is she?"

"I'll see how it goes and maybe tell you later" Henry didn't want Jason telling everyone at school that his dad went out with the secretary of state, especially if nothing happened, he didn't want to be the reason for a rumour or scandal.

"well, I'd go with the pale blue, but for the love of god, don't tuck it in, and roll the sleeves up."

"thanks bud, I will." Fashion advice from a fourteen-year-old, who'd have thought it?

…

Elizabeth stood in front of her wardrobe calling Allison on skype

"hello" she spun around to look at the laptop screen on the bed and saw her daughter appear.

"oh thank god Ally, what do I wear?"

"Aawww cute, you're so nervous. Stevie! Come say hi to mom!" Her daughters face appeared in the screen then, smiling.

"okay, is it a casual place or is it more formal?"

"I thought we'd just go get pizza or something, keep it casual."

"okay, your good jeans, white vest top with your long blue cardigan, that necklace we got you for Mother's Day a few years ago, the one with the clear and blue beads and your fashion sneakers"

Elizabeth started hurrying around her bedroom, gathering the items Ally had suggested and came back into view a minute later. "perfect, casual but with some thought put in. Plus, the blue really brings out your eyes"

"thanks sweetie, I haven't been this nervous in I don't know how long." Remembering exactly where they were she asked "How are things going at your dads? Doing anything fun this weekend?"

The girls looked at each other, as if they were unsure about whether to tell their mother. "What is it? New girlfriend?" the looks on their faces said yes "Well, I don't care. But I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention my date to your father."

"Why not mom? He should know you've moved on too" Stevie asked, she hated the snide comments her father would make about her mom and not having had a serious relationship since the divorce, thinking it had something to do with him and the idea that he was too good to get over. He never outright said that, but that was the underlying tone and it really bugged Stevie., especially since he'd done the stereotypical thing of having a series of girlfriends in their 20's who moved in after 2 weeks and would last 4 month tops.

"Hey, it doesn't bother me, your father has his life and I have mine, and I don't want him to know any more about mine than is absolutely necessary. If it goes anywhere he'll find out eventually but until then I don't need the added pressure of awaiting the questions that would surely follow him knowing that I was dating."

"fine" Stevie sighed, "what time are you going?"

Elizabeth looked at her watch "soon." There they were, the butterflies again, just thinking about him made her excited and the involuntary smile returned, which didn't go unnoticed by the girls. They said goodbye and wished her luck before she headed downstairs, grabbing her favourite beaded cuff from the dressing table and slipping it on her wrist. She texted henry to confirm his address and jumped in the motorcade to head to her first date in 7 months.

…

Henry had driven Jason to football practice and given him some money for pizza with the guys after and headed home. After rebrushing his teeth he waited at the dining room table for his date to arrive. He heard the motorcade pull up and grabbed his jacket, heading out the front door, keys in hand. He stopped at the top of the stairs to his house when he saw her getting out of the car. How could she be so breath-taking? He wasn't sure she wasn't a figment of his imagination, but then even he couldn't have imagined someone so beautiful. Henry willed his feet to move, so he didn't look like an idiot just standing and staring, making his way over to her he didn't know whether it was too soon to kiss her on the cheek, he decided that after meeting her yesterday it probably was, even if it felt like he knew her longer. Little did he know that Elizabeth was in a similar dilemma.

"so where are we headed?" he decided to ask before he reached her, as to avoid the awkward silence of two people standing next to each other not knowing what to do

"do you like pizza?"

"I love pizza"

"great, I know this amazing little pizza place. I thought we'd go there" Henry was pleasantly surprised, all of the media coverage presented her to be serious, and he was expecting a super high end restaurant to be her place of choice. It seemed that the woman before him just kept getting better and better.

They chatted all the way there and had gotten to Henry joining the marines when they arrived at the pizza place. It was small, not fancy, but Elizabeth said it was the best pizza in DC, and she'd done her research. After sitting down with their food Henry got to university. "you went to UVA? Me too!" and after more conversation, they discovered that Henry had been a TA while she was an undergrad and that Elizabeth had planned to take the class he was TA for, but it had clashed with one of her others. "yeah, business management, which I hated. I took religious ethics the next semester and loved it. If I'd taken it sooner, we could have met 27 years ago, how crazy is that!".

The conversation then moved to Elizabeth's childhood and she told henry about her parents' death and how it had impacted her. She told him more personal details than she had planned to, in fact she told him more than she told most people, even those closest to her. She worked with George and Isobel for 11 years, they were her closest friends, and she hadn't told them some of what she had just shared with Henry on their first date. It caught her off guard how honest she was with him, but he had been telling her about his strained relationship with his father so she felt comfortable sharing her pain.

After sitting in the pizza place for over an hour and a half, Henry suggested going for a walk in the park, the walked and talked for a while longer, stopping to sit on a bench here and there. They covered henry's service, Elizabeth's time at the CIA, Stevie and Allison and a general overview of their past relationships, as well as comparing and contrasting opinions on fellow professors from various departments during their time teaching at UVA. They were walking by the edge of a pond and Henry was talking about Jason and his school when Elizabeth slipped her hand into Henry's. He smiled at her and kept talking and they stayed like that, just walking and holding hands until henry saw his watch and realised that Jason would be getting home soon. Riding back to Henry's house, which they'd worked out was 0.6 miles from Elizabeth's, they retreated into a comfortable silence, their hand entwined on henry's knee.

As they pulled up to the house Henry turned to look directly at Elizabeth, "I want to see you again", he decided to just say it, he felt like the date had gone as well as he could've hoped. Elizabeth became very serious and said "I would like that as well". Henry broke into a wide smile; which Elizabeth could help but reciprocate. "Okay, so I'll call you"

"I would like that" Elizabeth leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, sending both of them sky high. And with that Henry got out of the car and climbed the steps to his front door, looking back before he stepped inside he saw her through the rolled down window smiling at him. God that smile, he didn't think he could ever get over that smile.

* * *

Authors note: that one was longer, I tried not to overdo it on the dialogue, I didn't want it to get boring just with whole conversations. The "I want to see you again" bit, I could so see happening, I could picture Henry's face as he said it.

Let me know what you think, or what you'd like to see happen in the future and I'll get to work on chapter 6


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note: I'm so sorry to the four of you who are still following this story, or who read and reviewed it when I first started it. If I'm being completely honest, sometimes when someone says they actually liked what I wrote, I go into panic mode and get major block. I hope that doesn't put anyone off giving me reviews though because it was a good review that finally got me back into this story by reminding me that it existed. Thankfully though, with it being an AU the timeline isn't messed up by the progression of the show.

Anyway I'll stop rambling and give you guys what you've been waiting very patiently for.

* * *

Henry closed the front door and leaned against it, finding that he needed to catch his breath. It caught him by surprise how flushed he was, he couldn't remember the last time he reacted like this, especially to a kiss on the cheek.

"Good date?"

Henry jumped, his head spinning round to see Jason standing at the doorway to the kitchen with a smirk on his face.

"What are you doing home? I thought you'd still be out with 'the dudes'" making sure to always put on a 'cool teenager' voice when he said that, eliciting a playful eye roll from Jason.

"I haven't been back long. But you're avoiding the question, not that you need to answer, I mean the redness of your cheeks says it all"

Henry cleared his throat and straightened up, moving away from the front door and over to the couch to take his shoes off. He shrugged feigning nonchalance "It was okay I guess"

This was met with a look that told him Jason wasn't to be fooled on this one, so he patted the sofa next to him motioning for his son to come and sit. He realised there was a definite connection and he would have to deal with some of the ramifications, but as it was _very_ early days he didn't feel the need to consider all of them yet. He had always believed in a code of honesty with his son though, and felt the need to deflect slip away, still not sure it was the right time for _total_ honesty.

"The date was amazing, okay?"

"Well duh! Dad I haven't seen you like this since… well ever. Let alone after a first date, and a lunch date at that." Sometimes Jason felt like his father underestimated his ability to read him. "So… are you gonna tell me who she is yet or…?"

"Not just yet buddy, we've only been on one date and I don't want you or your friends to think of her differently"

Jason nodded and replied "So she's someone we think about already…"

"I'd imagine you would, you're a very engaged individual." Henry smirked at the look of confusion on his sons face and left him to ponder that thought while he got changed and went to grab some papers that he still had yet to mark.

…

As Elizabeth's motorcade pulled up in front of her brownstone she couldn't wipe the smile off her face again. If she kept this up people would think she was losing it, even more than usual. As she climbed the stairs to her front door she thought she saw a slight smile on some of her security detail, but when she turned to them they looked as steely eyed and determined as usual, maybe she was just projecting.

As she stepped in the door and hung her coat up she decided to check in with the girls to see how their Saturday with their father was going. She was never quite sure how to feel though, she hated it when they were miserable at their dads because she wanted them to always be happy, but when they were little and John got to be good cop on the weekends and do all the fun things with none of the responsibility the girls would tell her all about how much fun they had with their father she had a twinge of anger inside her. Knowing that he could pump her young children full of sugar and blow off their homework without having to deal with the consequences, she hated how he could be out of her life and still have such power over it at the same time.

Waiting for a response she decided to text Henry, finally settling on "That was fun, we should do it again sometime". Even after just hitting send her heart did a flip.

It wasn't more than 20 seconds later that her phone dinged.

"Sometime soon, if your schedule will allow it."

She decided to try and flirt a little saying "We really suck at playing it cool, aren't we supposed to wait a certain amount of time before texting?"

"I don't see the point of playing games, I guess that's why I'm terrible at dating"

She smiled and typed back "you didn't seem that bad at it today ;)" she wasn't too sure about the winky face but figured she should take a risk every once in a while.

They went back and forth for a while until Stevie video called to complain about the lack of activities and her dads new "pre-pubescent" girlfriend, making Elizabeth chuckle. Since the divorce John had had a string of 20 something girls on his arm, each of which seemed to be worse than the last according to the girls.

They of course asked for every minute detail of the date but Elizabeth kept tight lipped and just told them the basics. When they heard about the long walk in the park there was a simultaneous "Aaaaawwww" that made Elizabeth laugh.

Work at the state department had been especially busy lately with last minute briefings and emergencies so Elizabeth had gotten behind on her day to day responsibilities like budgets and department memos, and although she needed to catch up she couldn't find it in her heart to pull Blake into work when she'd been keeping him late and calling him in early all week. She decided however that with Stevie and Allison not home she could do work there without feeling guilt at ignoring them while they were supposed to be together and so went to grab the various files from her briefcase, settling down in the living room rather than the study for an afternoon and probably evening of reading exceedingly dry but necessary reports, with occasional text breaks with Henry.

* * *

Okay, so this chapter is more of a filler giving them opportunity for reflection.

More to come. I promise this time J


	7. Chapter 7

Authors' note: these two are very busy people so I envision some difficulties in them seeing each other as often as they would like, but I have a couple of ways to get around that…

Thanks for all the positive feedback over the last few days, it's really given me the kick I needed (but the most loving of kicks). It does still shock me that other people actually like the stuff I write so reviews are greatly appreciated, and I try to reply to all those I can.

Moving swiftly on, you guys have waited long enough…

* * *

Elizabeth opened her eyes, adjusting to the darkness around her while she tried to figure out where she was, and why she was so uncomfortable. She looked around and figured out that she fell asleep on the sofa, paperwork spread out around her, and on her. It was then that she registered her phone buzzing on the coffee table in front of her and pushed herself up so that she could reach it.

"Hello?"

"you didn't year my text did you?"

"Hey Russell, no need to apologise for ringing in the middle of the night"

"right, well it's not like I want to be up at this time either. I guess sleep deprivation makes me forget my manners."

"What's your excuse for all the other times of the day?"

"Funny. Anyway, there's been developments in Lebanon. We need you at the Whitehouse."

Elizabeth pushed herself up and trudged up the stairs rubbing the sleep from her eyes to go and put on something more professional than her tracksuit bottoms, although there was an unwritten rule of the situation room, that in the middle of the night on a Saturday/Sunday that the dress code was informal. It was as she was getting ready that it occurred to her that Henry could be there, she looked in the mirror and groaned, knowing that she couldn't spend the amount of time required to look the way she wanted when she saw him next. That would have to do, it was her personal philosophy to not keep the people in the situation room waiting as there are inevitably lives on the line.

This time at least the girls weren't home so she didn't have to worry about them waking up and finding yet another note about an international incident, Stevie and Allison were beyond understanding about the importance and unpredictability of her job but she couldn't help feeling as though she was missing out on some of the last days where they needed their mother, and that killed her. So, without any notes to write or adolescents to wake up she was out of the door and on her way to the White House in record time.

…

Henry was woken up in his own bed, after having a home cooked meal with Jason and getting to sleep at a reasonable time. When he saw that the caller ID said Jane he was wide awake, he had been waiting for news on Sadiq for what felt like a year, it had permeated his thoughts while he was marking papers so much that he had read one essay in particular 4 times before he had actually taken any of it in.

Once he had been filled in on the situation with Sadiq Jane told him that they were needed at the White House again to plan an extraction plan, which let Henry release a breath he hadn't known he was holding. This time he was a lot less nervous about meeting the president, he wasn't the most important person in the room any more, now he was nervous about seeing Elizabeth. But this wasn't the time to be thinking about the beautiful woman he saw for the past two days, it was saving the life and information of his asset in an unstable part of the world. He threw a suit on and made thecal he hated to make. It was less than 5 minutes later that Barbara was at the door again in a different floral pyjama set with rollers in her hair, mostly conscious.

"I'm so sorry barb, I swear things should calm down soon."

"Really it's okay Henry. I know it must be important if you have to leave at this time, besides it doesn't make much difference to me if I'm asleep here or next door. You go, everything's fine here." She could read the look of urgency on his face and could see how apologetic he was about calling her.

"Okay" henry sighed kissing her on the cheek and leaving the house, he ran to his car and headed off to form a plan to save his asset.

…

Walking into the situation room, Elizabeth saw the president and went to take her seat next to him, she still hadn't quite gotten used to this room, and the importance her seat seemed to exude merely by its position. Her eyes scanned the room hoping to catch sight of Henry, but when they reached the corner he had occupied with the other DIA people two days prior he wasn't there. Her heart sank, she had felt sure that he would be in on this meeting, he was the asset's handler after all and they were usually privy to meeting like this. It was then that the door opened and he walked in. She smiled when she saw that he hadn't gotten the memo about casual wear, but then how could he know? Besides, he looked extremely handsome in a suit. They caught eyes then and she lifted her hand in a covert wave, when he smiled back at her she felt as though it was a second since they last saw each other and a month at the same time, like shed missed him and yet like they'd never been apart.

She was pulled back to reality when Conrad called the meeting to a start and she immediately focused on the challenge at hand. After henry and the others updated the room on the situation with Sadiq and the amount of valuable information he had on the state of the riots and the plans of foreign government forces the generals took over in suggesting various methods of extraction. When she glanced over at Henry she saw how invested he looked and admired the level of care he put into the safety of his asset. It was at this point that the Secretary of Defense Gordon Becker turned to her and asked if she had a problem with them going after their people, being as she usually opted for a more diplomatic approach. Becker had been on her case after a few occasions where the President chose her less confrontational approach over his, needless to say he was a little bitter.

All eyes turned to her then but she didn't flinch away from the passive aggressive comment, she simply turned to Becker straightening her shoulders and replied "not when there is no government to have diplomatic relations with, and not when our people are in danger. I've been in the position these guys are in now" motioning to Henry and the other DIA agents "hell, I've even been in Sadiq's position once or twice and if I ever disagree with you Gordon, it's because I want to avoid people getting hurt."

The room went silent, until Conrad said "Right, well. If there are no objections, you can put the plan in place general." He rose to his feet "Keep me informed. Bess, I'd like your input on something."

Conrad left the room and Elizabeth reluctantly followed, taking one last opportunity to glance over at Henry who, she was delighted to find, was staring straight back at her with a smile on his face. She pointed at the door and made an apologetic face, making it clear to him that she would have talked to him if not for the leader of the free world needing her council and he gave a reassuring nod.

…

Henry arrived at the situation room a lot quicker than he had two nights ago, as this time he already had a pass ready for him and knew the general direction of his destination. This, however, didn't stop him being the last one in the room. He involuntarily scanned for Elizabeth and couldn't help but notice that the higher ups were in regular clothes. His eyes were halted when he saw her, in a pair of jeans and a grey sweatshirt with some kind of red writing on it, her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and she had glasses on, he hadn't seen her in glasses before and was awestruck at how effortlessly beautiful she was. He caught her looking back at him and noted a slight movement of her hand on the table as if she was waving covertly at him and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face which he poorly tried to hide.

It was clear the room was waiting for him to complete the DIA team by the way the generals and their subordinates straightened up in their seats and shuffled their papers, getting ready to manage a potential crisis. As soon as the President called for the meeting to start he noticed how focused Elizabeth became and he too remembered the matter at hand and went into handler mode, relaying the Facts of Sadiqs' position and all of the information he had gathered on the state of the uprising and the likely foreign interference from the region.

Henry had been pleasantly surprised at the decisive plan that the military and intelligence agencies had thought of, expecting a lot of bureaucracy and dawdling. But his heart sank when he heard what the Secretary of Defense said to Elizabeth, and he felt himself flush with anger, even though he had only know her for a few days he felt the need to defend her from guys who seemed to be jackasses. At the same time he was reluctantly curious about what he said, while technically there's nothing insulting in there, he himself was a strong supporter of diplomacy first, but something in the way he said it gave it a different meaning, as though she would allow lives to be put in further danger. He soon found that there was no need to either worry about her policies, or even about her ability to defend herself when she heard the response she gave him. His interest though not low by any means, did peak when she mentioned being in the position of Sadiq before, making a mental note to ask her about it later. He felt the meeting drawing to a close and was getting ready to excuse himself from Jane and the others to ask her out for breakfast when the President asked to talk to her.

He couldn't get over the way she had handled that guy just before, unable to wipe the smile off his face. He watched her get up and felt his heart sink wanting to be in the same room with her for even a minute longer, it didn't matter if he could talk to her, he just liked being able to see her face. She looked back at him on her way out and seemed to have the same thought he had before. He reassured her as best he could with just a facial expression that he understood that the President came first and watched her leave the room with a wistful smile.

As he turned around again, he sae Jane staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

"Nothing" she replied with a smile. He was caught, but he didn't really care.

* * *

Authors' note: so I wrote this in a few different sittings which might explain if it doesn't really flow. I had hoped to put this up sooner but my mum came to visit me while I'm house/dog sitting for my dad and then my Facebook got hacked which took a while to deal with and caused a lot of stress and a couple of emotional breakdowns.

So I was going to put more in with just the two of them but I have a lot of time to make up for so thought I should just upload what I have and put that in the next chapter.

p.s. sorry for the personal info, I might have overshared.


	8. Chapter 8

Authors note: Thanks for all the encouragement, reviews seriously make my day! I'm definitely back in the swing of this story now so I can assure you I'm writing as fast as I can. I love the feedback though so if you like my story and want to leave me a line or two I would be grateful. Hope you like where this goes and if there's something you particularly want you see just let me know and I'll try to work it in.

* * *

Elizabeth followed the president into the oval office, mostly paying attention to what he was saying, but part of her mind was still in the situation room with Henry. She hadn't had a boy take up this much brain capacity in decades, the only time it had come close was when John was giving her grief with the girls, and that was a different type of brain capacity.

Elizabeth was advising on how to deal with Chechnya and their hesitation to deal with some communist rebels for a few minutes and then headed out to swing by the office and pick up some papers and then hopefully go back to bed. As she was walking out of the office she saw Henry walk down the corridor towards her, he had been talking over the plan with some of the military people, making sure they were fully clued in on his assets' location and had all of the information they could possibly need to make the extraction as smooth as possible. His head rose to meet her and that same smile spread across his face, she couldn't get over that smile, it was like she would do anything to see it, little did she know that he was thinking the exact same thing.

As he reached her in the corridor he was suddenly faced with a dilemma, he didn't know how to greet her. Should he kiss her on the cheek? Should they hold hands on their way out? Would she want to keep it professional here? Until this second he hadn't given it much thought, they felt so familiar he felt it natural to just want to kiss her, a simple quick peck as though they'd been together for years. But he was halted in his wonderings when Elizabeth reached up and kissed him on the cheek. It was faster than the afternoon before, it felt natural and yet still made his stomach flip.

She hadn't been thinking, it wasn't until after she had done it that she fully realised that she'd only known him 2 days and was standing in the White House. She felt the heat flood her cheeks and looked away quickly, which Henry thought was adorable. He smiled at her the same wide smile that he had after she kissed him the day before, and figured he just had to go for it.

"Hey, so I was wondering if you wanted to get some breakfast? I know it's still a little early but I know this great diner not too far from my house, and I guess your house too."

Elizabeth felt the flutters in her stomach. "sure, I'd love to. I just need to get some files from my office first if that's okay?"

"Of course, world affairs trumps breakfast on the list of priorities."

"Hang on there buster" she stopped him with a hand on his chest, with a serious look on her face. Henry stopped wondering what he'd one wrong when she very deliberately followed with "Nothing trumps breakfast."

Slowly a mischievous smile spread across her face and she saw Henry's features relax into a laugh. "So do you want to see the state department? I know a gal who can get you in." she said with a wink.

…

As they got off the elevator Elizabeth turned round holding her arms out to the side, "Well? what'd you think? Pretty snazzy huh?"

Henry walked around wide-eyed "it sure beats the dark hallways at the DIA." He walked along the wide corridor with art covered walls, spotting a refreshment tray, "you have real cups, they're not made of paper or anything!"

Elizabeth laughed, "well, foreign dignitaries are usually used to ceramic."

As she showed him around the 7th floor, pointing out some of the offices, they talked more about their lives, about their hobbies and interests. Elizabeth talked about her horses and buttercup in particular. Henry hadn't ridden horses as a kid but had taken a few classes after he left the marines and moved to Virginia, and he could tell they were like children to her by the way she was talking about them.

As they got to her office the topic had moved to their kids again. Conversation halted, however, when Henry saw the office he was stood in. "not bad right?" Elizabeth saw his face and laughed. "I's definitely a step up from the desk I had at the CIA."

"Yeah, I bet. My office at Georgetown is nice but this is a whole other level."

"Hey, we're just in time for the sunrise" she grabbed his hand and started to pull him through to the conference room and over to the big windows that overlooked Washington "you get a great view of it from here."

They stood there for a little while still holding hands and watching the sun come up over the capital. Henry watched Elizabeth as the sun came over the horizon, her face glowing in the light, oblivious to how beautiful she was.

She turned to see ask how he liked it, but caught her looking at her instead, causing her to blush. He reached up and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, placing it under her chin and slowly lifting it back up for her eyes to meet his again, the blue sparkling in the early morning sun. He could feel his heartrate pick up speed and was overcome by her scent of sweet vanilla and coconut.

She looked up into his eyes and could feel his breath on her face, it seemed shallower and faster than before, the thought of which made her happy, knowing that she had a similar effect on him that he did on her. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his, feeling tingles shoot down her spine as he took his hand and wove his fingers through her hair. The kiss deepened, their tongues gently mingling. There wasn't a sense of urgency and all though it was exciting, it felt like… coming home.

Elizabeth's hand moved up his chest and around to the back of his neck, her fingers gently playing with the hairs at the base of his head. Henry moved his other hand to her waist, holding her closer and Elizabeth followed suit. They stood there like that, in a passionate embrace for what felt like a lifetime, but as soon as they had to break for air henry felt empty, like she had taken his heart with her when they let go. Elizabeth looked up at him, with a huge smile spread across her face, but she got worried when she saw henry's look of disappointment, thinking he hadn't enjoyed it her heart started to break. "did you hate it? I thought it was pretty good."

Henry rushed to reassure her. "That was…" he struggled to find the words "the best kiss I've ever had."

He saw the confusion on her face and understood what she was thinking, "I was just sad it was over. I could've done that for the rest of my life."

"Well, you know we can do it again, right?" she smiled and grabbed him by the sides, giving herself leverage to reach up once more, pressing her lips to his and holding him close, picking up where they left off last time.

* * *

Okay, so I got to the kiss and realised I'd never written a kiss before, or even a romance. So I hope it went okay.

Anyway R&R and I'll get working on the next chapter

Byeeeee :) xx


	9. Chapter 9

Authors note: I've decided that Henry's mother should still be alive because I got really bummed out when I thought about her not getting to meet Elizabeth, so because this is my story and I can do whatever the hell I like, I'm deciding to change a few things, besides it's not like the rest of this is canon sooo. :D

let's get right into this shall we?

* * *

They sat at the booth in the diner, neither of them able to stop smiling, it was like they were 21 all over again and in a college romance. Making out in an empty conference room after pulling an almost all-nighter. Elizabeth ordered the pancakes and was promptly informed that they were Henrys speciality, and was promised some home-made ones soon with a cheeky wink. It was at this point that Elizabeth felt she had to break the news.

"I'm warning you now, I can't cook. Like at all, I burnt water once, I'm not even joking."

Henry smiled "Well, thank God!"

"huh? I'm confused."

"Here I was thinking you were perfect, I started to wonder if I hadn't just had a mental break and invented you in my head. This reassures me that you're real, and human."

Elizabeth smiled "well, I hate to ruin the picture of perfection you have of me, could we go back and pretend I didn't say that?"

"Absolutely not, now I know I'm not crazy." Henry reached across the table and took her hand, running his thumb over the back, making her smile again.

The waitress came back to the table with their food, she stopped for a second watching Elizabeth. Her eyes widened and she scurried off and started whispering to her colleagues by the kitchen.

"does that happen often?" henry asked

"What?" Elizabeth looked up from pouring syrup on her pancakes.

"You didn't see her recognise you?"

"I guess I've gotten pretty used to it by now, it's still a little weird for my kids when people approach me when I'm out with them, especially if it gets confrontational, but I don't really notice it any more. Unless I want to notice, if I'm at work it can be pretty useful." She smiled at that last part, remembering the times she'd used it to her advantage when making deals. Her recognisability had come in handy once or twice when talking to a junior senator or staffer who was getting too big for their britches, it did well to remind them that she was powerful in her own right and didn't need to be mansplained to.

Henry was taken aback by her aloofness "What do you mean confrontational?"

Elizabeth shrugged "Oh you know, bold conservatives who think I'm too liberal, young students who are blinded by idealism, just people who don't agree with my policies." She noticed how Henry was taken aback "it happens very rarely, most people are really nice, plus that's the plus of having, my ds agents with me all the time, even if that means giving up some privacy."

Henry had been painfully aware of the DS agents placed around the diner, thankfully they were mostly concentrating on what was going on around the secretary rather that what she was doing. "It must be hard to go on dates."

Elizabeth thought for a second before replying. "since I got this job my personal life has been almost non-existent to be honest. I mean I get asked out at functions and events but usually by guys with an agenda."

"wow, that really sucks."

"Haha, yeah. At first I didn't really catch on to the whole personal interest aspect of dating the Secretary of State but after going on a few dates that felt more like business meetings or pitches for ideas I caught on pretty quick."

They discussed their recent dating history, Henry entertaining Elizabeth with his tales of women on all ends of the crazy spectrum. And Elizabeth naming a few names of politicians and public figures who had hit on her, some of whom were single and some of whom were not. As well as letting him in on a few secrets of Secretary of State related chat up lines that were not effective.

They sat there for 2 and a half hours before they noticed the diner was getting busy and saw the time, deciding to relocate to Elizabeth's house for a cup of coffee and somewhere that members of the public wouldn't keep looking over at their table.

…

Henry figured that it would still be a few hours before Jason got up, being as he was a teenager and it was Sunday. As they walked into Elizabeth's house she was suddenly very worried about the sate she had left it in earlier that day. She started to tidy up the papers on the sofa and put it back to its usual state, with all of the cushions where they were supposed to be. Henry was watching her from the kitchen and couldn't help but find her adorable when flustered, it was so different to the woman people see on TV, calm, composed and ready to take on the world.

Elizabeth felt his eyes on her and smiled, turning around and blushing when she saw the smile on his face, and the twinkle in his eye that she hadn't seen when a man looked at her in so long she didn't know it was possible anymore.

He loved it when she blushed, knowing that he had an effect on her made him more confident in the idea that she liked him back. It wasn't that she did anything to point to the contrary, and plenty of women had shown interest in him throughout the years, but something about her made him feel a sense of insecurity that he wasn't used to, looking for reassurance that she was feeling the same as him.

Elizabeth went to join henry in the kitchen giving him a wink as she walked past, and unknowingly sending his heartrate through the roof. She went to put on a pot of coffee, explaining that that was the one thing she could make. They sat in the living room with their mugs and talked more about their upbringings. Henry talked about his strained relationship with his father, and his sister Maureen who was the most like their father in so many ways. "I should visit more often, we used to go once a month when Jason was little, my mom gave him something I never could in a maternal figure. I know she would like it if we visited more often but things have been so crazy lately what with working at Georgetown and my 'other job', plus Jason has school and friends and a life of his own." It was at that point that he remembered about Elizabeths parents, although you wouldn't be reminded by her face. She was doing nothing but listening intently but he automatically felt bad nonetheless and changed the subject.

"I love your sweatshirt by the way, very funny"

Elizabeth looked down and remembered what she was wearing, it was her favourite, plain grey with red writing on the front that said "Harvard Law" and underneath it written smaller was "just kidding". She smiled, "thanks, I've had for over a decade but I can't throw it away. You know, it's fine to talk about your family, I lost my parents a long time ago, sure it still hurts but I've made my peace with it, I really don't mind" with that last statement she placed her hand on top of his that was rested on his knee, he turned his hand over to intertwine their fingers. How was it that she knew what he was thinking without him saying anything, they'd only met two days ago, but it felt like he had known her forever.

After they had finished their coffee Henry reluctantly decided that he should head home to let his angelic neighbour go and get on with her day. As they stood at the front door Henry leaned down to kiss her, it was sweet and patient and in every way perfect. It was a completely different kind of kiss to the ones they had shared earlier but it was just as special. Once again, when it ended he felt colder than he had before. Elizabeth had the same thought and although she wanted to kiss him again she thought that they might have trouble stopping, and he needed to see his son, so she held her breath as he walked down her front steps, mostly to stop herself from calling out to him. She only let it go once she had closed and locked the door and was leaning against it in defeat. She felt like she was under water but if this was what drowning felt like she never wanted to come up to the surface again.

* * *

Authors note: Sorry about spelling/grammar mistakes i was writing fast and haven't had time to check it over. My best friend is coming to visit me for a week for my 20th birthday so I probably won't get much writing done, so I'm sorry in advance but ill get to it just as soon as she's gone. I only _just_ got this one finished and now I have to fetch her from the train station sooo. Bye

Please R&R xx


	10. Chapter 10

Authors note: okay so I'm _really_ sorry this one has taken me so long. I got caught up with Uni work and to be honest I should be writing a coursework for public international law right now.

* * *

Henry got home and was giddy, and Barb could tell. She kept eyeing him up as he said hi to Jason and walked her to the door, thanking her for all her help. Eventually the curiosity got the better of her and she had to ask "What's gotten into you? When you left you were really tense"

From the dining room Jason could be heard. "HE'S GOT A THING FOR SOMEONE AT WORK. HE WON'T TELL ME WHO SHE IS"

At that Barbs eyebrows raised inquisitively "I see…"

Henry blushed and steered her towards the door as she pressed him for details. "I'll tell you when it gets more serious." As she left she noted that he had said "when" and not "if" and walked down the front steps laughing to herself in her floral night dress and slippers.

As Henry joined Jason in the kitchen he noted that she had made him waffles and there were extras on the island which he picked at while his son filled him in on his Sunday plans, consisting of homework and video games. Henry told Jason that he might need to be called back to work later that day and spent the rest of breakfast dodging questions about why he was needed on a Sunday and where he had been during the night. Henry did decide that while he couldn't share information on what he was doing in the night, he could fill Jason in on what he did in the morning.

"Ooh breakfast date!"

Henry laughed and said "well, it is the most important meal of the day" with a wink.

Jason did his best not to laugh but every so often when he wasn't ready for a joke, his dad slipped one in and he couldn't stop himself. This of course made Henry happy, knowing that he hadn't completely lost his touch.

They finished their breakfast and Jason challenged his dad to a round on the PlayStation, and being that Henry often felt guilty about not spending enough time together, he accepted, threatening to kick some butt.

…

Once Elizabeth had cleaned the coffee cups she sat back down to finish reading the reports from the night before. She started feeling the guilt of having such a long breakfast with Henry that she so often did if she took any time for herself. Even though she realised that it's okay to be selfish once in a while, and that having such a high stress job entitled her to let off some steam every now and then, she still couldn't help being hard on herself.

She worked out that she would have a few hours till the situation room had any information on the extraction of Sadiq and that she might not even be needed in that meeting. After that, she had until round tea time before the girls would be back from their dads. The plan was to get as much work done as possible before then so she could spend some time with them, before Ally went back to school on Monday. Thankfully Stevie was already home for summer and was able to help out with the school run and getting groceries.

Lo and behold, three hours into her work session there was a call from the Whitehouse asking her to the situation room. A small wave of annoyance clouded her mind for a minute. While she appreciated the Presidents confidence in her opinion to want it on a lot of issues, she also wondered why she was needed to witness an extraction of an asset. It was exciting to watch the body cams of the extraction teams of course, and there may well be international ramifications in the long run, but at the minute there was no working government where he was and there was very little Elizabeth could do from the situation room. There was, however, work to be done at home.

This annoyance soon dissipated when she realised she would get to see Henry again. Frustrated that she hadn't had the forethought to fix anything about her appearance but realising it was too late to do so now, she packed up her paperwork and headed for the Whitehouse.

…

When Henry got the call from Jane he had moved on to grading papers and forced Jason to make a start on his homework. He jumped up from his desk as soon as he heard that the extraction was a go and would be happening soon. Jane informed him that it wasn't usually protocol for the DIA to be let in on all the meetings in the situation room but that the President had taken a shine to their dedication and had asked that they be present. Henry let Jason know that the meeting he thought might happen was in fact, going ahead and reminded him that TV was only allowed after he had done 3 pieces of homework.

In the car on the way to the White House he thought about seeing Elizabeth again and felt his stomach tighten. He felt the heat in his cheeks and realised that this feeling he had when he was with her, or thinking about her, was something he hadn't thought was real, just something you read about in books and poems. With this revelation, he arrived and made his way to the situation room, switching into handler mode.

Henry and Elizabeth were standing in a fairly crowded situation room, with a few military leaders and the DIA team, waiting in front of the screen watching the delta extraction team storm into a warehouse in search of Sadiq. Elizabeth felt the usual apprehension and adrenaline that came with watching an extraction, but couldn't help herself from stealing glances at Henry, who seemed glued to the screen. She tried with all her might to not stare at him, unsure of whether he was even breathing. While henry was enthralled by the extraction she did lock eyes with another woman at one point, and felt herself trying to pass it off by looking around the room nonchalantly. When she returned her eyes to the screen the voice in her head was screaming with embarrassment.

Henry watched as the cameras caught the team finding Sadiq unharmed and leading him out to the chopper that was awaiting in a nearby field. It wasn't until they were safely in the helicopter that Henry released the breath he hadn't noticed he was holding and looked over to Elizabeth in relief. They locked eyes for a moment and was met with a sheepish smile that confused him. Then he turned to jane and was met with a knowing smile.

"what?"

"she was looking at you during the extraction, we may have made eye contact. I think I made her nervous."

Henry looked back over towards Elizabeth who had her back to him and was talking with the president and an admiral.

"So, you gonna tell me what's going on there?" Jane nudged him with her elbow

"Going on where? She's the secretary of state" Henry feigned innocence but he knew that Jane could see right through him, they'd been working together for a few years and had become very good friends, Jane had seen him with a some of his dates and he never looked at them like that.

Jane raised her eyebrow sceptically and henry relented "I'll tell you later". Jane finally laughed and responded, "I'll hold you to it"

Elizabeth had seen some of this interaction for her position across the room and started to wonder if she had gotten in between something, suddenly she felt very foolish and scolded herself for falling for someone so quickly. Elizabeth left as soon as the meeting ended not wanting to be in the same room as henry and the mystery woman any more.

She had almost made it to the end of the Whitehouse driveway when she heard Henry calling after her. She took a deep breath and composed herself before turning around to see him, as he ran to catch up with her she could see the confusion in his eyes.

"Hey" he panted "where'd you go? I went to grab my bag and you'd left"

"yeah, listen I'm really sorry but I just can't do this…"

Henry felt like he'd been punched in the gut "what do you mean? It was going so well…"

Elizabeth took a deep breath and decided to just be completely honest, "listen, I'm not getting any younger and what with my job and my kids I really don't have the time or energy to spend time on games" with that Henry only grew more confused, which must have been clear on his face because Elizabeth continued. "You and that woman from the DIA?"

At that Henry started to laugh, suddenly there were tears stinging at Elizabeth's eyes. And she turned to walk away. Henry caught her by the arm and ran around to stand in front of her, sensing that maybe that wasn't the best call.

"that's Jane, she's one of my closest friends, she's like a sister to me." Elizabeth didn't look entirely convinced. "she mentioned that you two caught eyes, she was looking at you because she'd seen the way _I_ was looking at you the other day. It's impossible for me to hide anything from her, and to be honest I'm surprised everyone in that room didn't see how I was looking at you the other day."

Elizabeth felt the heat rise in her cheeks and said "I'm so sorry, I usually don't get like this with a guy. Besides even if there was something, we've known each other less than a week" she suddenly caught herself. "gosh, has it only been a week? Anyway, I feel stupid" she looked at the floor in embarrassment, this was something her mind would replay for her for years to come.

Henry reached out and pulled her in for a hug, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the thought of her being jealous… _of Jane._ That thought alone would keep him amused for the foreseeable future.

"For what it's worth I'm not interested in games either. And you're right it feels like I've known you for years"

Elizabeth lifted her head to look at him, glad she wasn't the only one who felt that way. She leaned up and kissed him, it was tender and soft but she took her time, needing to show him how much she cared without saying it.

Henry asked Elizabeth to go go with him for a coffee but Elizabeth couldn't forget about the amount of work she had to get done before the girls got home, so she told henry to go and spend the day with Jason and that she would ring him later. It was then that he thought he should check with her about something.

"hey, so since we're both in this, I haven't told Jace who you are yet because I didn't want him to be affected if this turned out to just be a one date thing… but I was wondering if you had any qualms about me telling him who you are? He's a responsible kid, he won't go blabbing to his school friends."

Elizabeth smiled at him, flattered that he asked her opinion on it. "That's absolutely fine with me, he deserves to know who his father is spending time with. Its sweet of you to ask though."

"Well I mean it affects you too so I just thought… Okay so I'll talk to you later. Let me know how you get on with the girls later." Elizabeth nodded and gave him another kiss goodbye, this one quicker, as though they had been doing this for years. As she heads to her waiting motorcade Henry caught the eye of the security guard manning the gate who gave him a thumbs up and he smiled sheepishly and headed to where he had parked his own car.

…

As henry walked in he noted the quietness of the house, he was about to find Jason and see if he was still doing homework until he heard the familiar sounds of the PlayStation coming from the living room. Walking up to him he tousled his hair and crouched down behind the sofa, resting his arms on the back so that he was the same height as his son. Before he could say anything, Jason said, "I've done most of my homework, I only have Spanish left and I was losing focus so I thought I should take a break."

"I didn't say anything, you know how long it'll take you, I have complete faith that you'll get it done."

At that Jason paused his game and turned to his dad, squinting at him. It was Henrys MO to be on Jason about his homework, he was unsure of this relaxed-about-school guy in front of him. Then it clicked, he was in a good mood, which meant he saw the mystery woman in the secret meeting he had to go to.

"you saw her again didn't you?"

Henry was impressed at how well his son could read him. "Yes I did."

At that Jason just smiled and turned back to his game. Henry was disappointed, he had expected him to ask about her again. "You're not going to ask who she is?"

"No, what's the point? I figure you'll tell me when you're ready. Are you ready?"

"Well, I mean it's going well so I guess you should know. I feel like I may have made this into a bigger deal than it needed to be, but if you could not talk about it with your friends I'd appreciate it. She has her own life and hr own kids and they're entitled to their privacy."

"Dad, I get it, would you just spit it out already?"

Henry laughed "right, it's Elizabeth Adams"

Jason paused for a second "As in the secretary of state?"

"the very same"

Jason thought about it for a second and then said "cool, you're dating the 5th person in the line of succession! I mean she seems like she has good foreign policy ideas, plus she's super pretty, and you know what with being the secretary of state and all, she's probably not crazy, so that's a plus"

And just like that it was done, he had been kind of worried about telling Jason who he was seeing, although he wasn't sure why. Jason had seen him with women before, he had dated in the 12 years since he'd been on his own, but this time he felt more nervous about telling Jason, probably because he could feel himself falling hard, fast.

Jason, however was already over the news, sure he guessed it was a big deal but it turned out the hype was more exciting than actually knowing the answer. He turned back to his game with a quick "as long as you're happy, I'm happy."

…

Elizabeth headed straight home to continue with as much work as she could fit in. after reheating one of the meals Stevie had left her and sitting back down at her desk to read over some memos she became engrossed in her work. It was a little over an hour later when her phone buzzed beside her, seeing that it was Henry she read the text immediately. "I told Jason who I was dating x"

"And? X"

"He was cool about it, thought you were pretty and said he wants me to be happy, so I guess it went great. He didn't freak out at least"

"Nah, wait for him to meet me first, then he'll freak ;)"

"haha, not likely, he'll want to come live with you instead of me"

"wow no pressure then."

"how could he not xxx"

and with that Elizabeth felt lighter, like they were somehow official now, that had been the tone of their earlier conversation when she'd completely humiliated herself at least, and now he had told his son. It was weird to her that it felt like they had taken a step forward already, but had known each other for such a short amount of time. Yet somehow, it didn't feel rushed or forced, if anything she thought it felt too slow, like they could be living together tomorrow and she'd still miss him while she slept.

After spending a few more hours doing work, the "to read" pile had gotten considerably smaller and Elizabeth was feeling pretty accomplished in her efforts, then the door to the house opened and in walked her two beautiful daughters. She got up from her desk and ran over to the door, pulling her girls in for a group hug, kissing them both on the head she pulled back to see their smiling faces.

"Ugh I missed you so much!"

"we missed you too mom" Allison replied.

"so how was your weekend?" Stevie asked with a glint in her eye.

"it was good, thank you, the house is far too quiet without you two in it but I managed" she slid her arms around both of their shoulders and walked them towards the living room and they flopped on the couch.

"are you gonna make us ask?" Allison wasn't the most patient person when it came to gossip.

" okay, okay. Wee went out for lunch on Saturday whoch I told you about."

"yes and you went on a super cute walk… and after that?"

Elizabeth filled the girls in on the general things that happened, the breakfast, the misunderstanding, that he had told his son who he was dating. When she said it out loud it occurred to her just how much had happened in the last few days. The girls spent the entire time she was filling them in, either saying aww or asking for more details, which she refused to give.

They ordered Chinese food and watched a movie snuggled on the couch together, the idyllic Sunday night between a mother and her daughters, until Elizabeth's 3am start finally caught up with her and she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Stevie nudged her awake and told her she should go to bed, and Elizabeth was in no mood to argue. She went to sleep and had a full, peaceful night sleep after an eventful day.

* * *

Please review, they remind me that this story exists and that people actually want to read it. Unfortunately, I can't respond to guest reviews but I do respond to all those I can, and I really do take your feedback on. I've already fgot a start to the next chapter so I should update pretty soon. :) xx


	11. Chapter 11

I'm Back! Sorry I've been away so long. Anyway, this chapter is short but hopefully is the push I need to get my mind going again. I'm going to start the next chapter right now!

* * *

A week passed and Elizabeth was rushed off her feet at the state department, she and Henry spoke every day in one capacity or another, most often calling before one of them was going to sleep. They would talk for an hour or so and texted during the day but it was killing them that they couldn't see each other. Finally, Elizabeth had had enough and when Friday came she decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.

"Blake?" she called from her office, lifting her head from the file in her hand as her trusted assistant walked into the room.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Could you ask if a professor Henry McCord from Georgetown is available to meet me this afternoon?

"Of course ma'am, shall I tell him what it's about?"

"I'm working on these rising religious tensions and I could use some of his expertise right now."

Blake nodded and headed back to his desk to call the professor.

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and sighed. A smile spread across her face as she thought of the prospect of seeing Henry.

A few minutes later her phone pinged beside her with a message. "So I guess I'll see you later? Xx"

She smiled to herself and replied "Well I figured we couldn't see each other out of work hours so we would have to figure something else out. Xx"

"Well Secretary Adams, I look forward to our meeting. Xx"

Suddenly the day seemed to fly by and before she knew it it was the afternoon, she went to the bathroom to check her appearance and was surprised at how well her outfit was holding up on such a long day. Smoothing out her skirt and tucking in the back of her shirt that seemed to refuse to stay put, she headed out into the bullpen to check with Blake on her upcoming meeting.

As she approached her assistant's desk she saw him heading through the large office space. There was that queasy feeling in her stomach again, he was looking very handsome in a pair of jeans and a suit jacket, the typical college professor look suited him well.

He got off the elevator and was hit with a wave of familiarity, the area bringing back extremely good memories of the week before. As he rounded the corner he saw her standing at the other end of the room and his breath was taken away, it was like he'd forgotten what she looked like, even though she had clouded his thoughts every day since they last saw each other.

As he neared her at the other end of the bullpen Elizabeth tried to seem like it was just another meeting, busying herself with scheduling with Blake, and trying her best to not look at the handsome man who was walking towards her. It was only as he reached where she was standing with Blake that she looked up and put on the most professional voice she could manage.

"Dr McCord, I'm so glad you could make it. I'm sorry to take time out of your day."

Henry followed suit "Not at all Madam Secretary, I'm happy to help if I can."

"Please, come into my office, would you like a coffee or a tea?"

Trying to remain as composed as possible Henry could barely make words form when she looked the way she did, finally managing "Um, Coffee would be great actually."

Blake nodded and hurried off in the opposite direction and Elizabeth led the way into her office, acutely aware of what happened the last time they were in the state department together, she felt her skin start to tingle and felt her cheeks flush with the memory.

As they stepped into her office she closed the door behind them, unable to think of anything other than their last visit to her office and how it had ended, she stepped forward towards him and took his head in her hands, she planted a firm and passionate kiss on his lips, for a moment she was lost in the kiss, she remembered just how amazing it felt to be able to do this with someone, a feeling she hadn't had in a while. She stayed there with her hands in his hair and relished the feeling of his hands around her waist, letting the relief spread through her body until it reached down to her toes. As she pulled away she felt Henry lean after her, not wanting the kiss to end. As she looked at him she couldn't help but laugh at the bewildered look on his face.

"Sorry, I've missed that."

Henry blinked away the shock and shook his head a little to shake his thoughts into place. "Never be sorry for that. I just wasn't sure if we were doing that... y'know... here"

"I've been beating myself up about not kissing you properly when we last said goodbye. If I'd known that would be the last time we saw each other for a whole week I would have made it more memorable."

"wow" Henry couldn't think of anything else to say.

"wow?"

"Yeah, I guess it's just crazy that you would think I could forget anything about our time together. I couldn't stop thinking about you if I wanted to, not that I ever would." Henry Gazed into her Blue eyes and was surprised by how much he saw in them, unaware that someone could convey so much in one glance, all the disbelief, adoration and self-consciousness that she held within came out at that moment and he swore to himself right there that he would make sure she knew just how amazing she was every day. He decided to put her mind at ease in a different way, taking her face in his hands he stroked her cheek with his thumb and leant down until their lips met in a soft and tender kiss in which Henry tried to convey just how he felt about her. The kiss was sweet and gentle, their tongues mingling while they stood in one another's embrace for a minute or so, until they finally broke apart and became aware of their surroundings once more.

Elizabeth was wondering what she'd done to find him when she realised that they were in her office, in the state department.

"Okay, so now we're caught up, maybe we should try and seem professional, don't want to waste your time."

"Oh, so you really wanted my help on something?"

"Well, no. I just wanted to see you, but now you're here it might be an idea to seem like we're working? People walk in and out of my office all day."

"right, of course… so, what can I help you with?"

Elizabeth decided it was best if they were separated by a desk, or else it would be too easy to lean over and kiss him until her next meeting. Just as they sat down Blake came in with two coffees and Elizabeth turned into Secretary of State mode, a change that Henry found Fascinating, how she could be so strong and self-assured in one moment and show such vulnerability in another. It made him even more sure that she was completely unique, and someone he needed to know everything about.

Half an hour later Blake came into the office to remind Elizabeth of her next appointment that was in 20 minutes and Henry stood up to leave so that she could prepare for it. Blake left the room and shut the door behind him before Henry turned to her so he could take her image in once more. As she stood up from behind her grand desk he noticed how perfectly she seemed to fit there. After talking with her for the past 30 minutes he had become impressed by her international political insight and the sheer amount of knowledge she seemed to have on countries all over the world, of course, it is thought that the secretary of state would have knowledge of many different countries, in reality Henry had spent enough time around Washington types to know that rising to the top often didn't work on merit. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel like Elizabeth had worked for every opportunity she had ever been given.

She rounded the table and was already feeling the loss of his presence although he had yet to leave. She walked over to him and decided that she would not make the same mistake she did the last time she said goodbye and would make it a kiss that would last them however long it would be until they could meet again. Pulling him in for a passionate kiss that lasted long enough for them both to be flustered at the end of it. Henry reached up and wiped a smudge of lipstick from her mouth and she did the same to him with a giggle. After straightening his tie she rearranged his hair back to how it was before she ran her fingers through it during their kiss, and Henry did a similar check before he headed towards the door. "We can't wait a whole week next time."

"I doubt I can wait a day." She replied with a grin.

Henry smiled and headed out.

When Blake entered the room to hand her the briefing paper she needed for her next meeting he could tell something had changed, her hair was ever so slightly different, a detail that would go unnoticed by someone less Blake than he, and she seemed happier than he had ever seen her. Giving her a quick smile, he left the room once more and made a note to save Henry McCord's number, feeling that he may need it again soon.

* * *

Like I said, it's not too long, but I wanted to get something up to remind people about the story, I'll update soon this timeIi promise ;) - A


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